Thanks for the pix of Isabella as a girl ... I've never seen any of her that young before. Striking the resemblance to her mother now that she's older ... she also looks a bit like Kate Moss in one of the young pix.

I'm also struck by how much more beautiful she became--she looked so unformed as a young girl, and so much more lovely later, including now I think ...

__________________There's a need for more individuality today, and my job is to cater to women, not dictate to them. --Alber Elbaz

January 25, 2008 -- LUMINOUS Isabella Rossellini, model, actress, mother of Lancome's face Elettra Rossellini, daughter of the late movie star Ingrid Bergman and film director Roberto Rossellini, is now the Made in Italy spokeswoman. Explained the Roman-born American citizen who speaks with a slight accent: "I'm to talk up their fashion industry. And wear only Italian fashions, which, incidentally, I must buy myself. But nothing readily seen as Pucci, Armani, Prada, nothing identifiable."

Isabella talks softly but carries a big shtick. Hear what else she's doing: "Playing as usual a Jew. I'm a Jewish mother in the soon-due 'Two Lovers,' with Gwyneth Paltrow and Joaquin Phoenix. My third time doing that. In a Dutch film I played someone Hassidic. . . . And I train guide dogs for the blind. Using a cane I took one on the subway. A woman asked, 'You need help?' I said, 'Oh, no, no, I'm training this dog.' So much for my international glamour. . . . And for Sundance Channel I'm writing animation films about the environment and mating habits of flies and bees, so I call the project 'Green Porno.' "

She's also readying for what would be Ingrid Bergman's 100th birthday August 2015. "My mother kept everything. Every contract, photo, letter, diary, three Oscars, her clothes, everything. Posters for 'Casablanca,' still considered one of the best films ever, sell for $25,000. 'Casablanca' played a big role in our family's life. Whenever a friend's in Morocco and visits Casablanca, they always feel obligated to phone me. The movie is still playing. People still make money from it. But not us. We have no rights."

__________________If life deals you lemons, make lemonade . . . if it deals you tomatoes, make Bloody Marys.